Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a technique for remotely controlling an external image capturing apparatus using a communication apparatus.
Description of the Related Art
Recent communication apparatuses such as mobile phones, and smartphones which are a kind of mobile phone are equipped with, in addition to an ordinary camera (rear camera) for shooting a subject on the subject side, a camera (front camera) for shooting the photographer him- or herself or a subject on a photographer side. A user of the communication apparatus can shoot images suitably for different shooting situations and the like by switching between use of the rear camera and the front camera.
Additionally, a technique of using a communication function of a mobile phone to connect not only a camera built-in the mobile phone but also another camera, and perform remote control (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-096166) and a technique in which the convenience of shooting with a mobile phone is improved by a user switching between a plurality of cameras (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2005-184230) are known.
However, in many cases, in a conventional communication apparatus, control of built-in cameras such as a rear camera and a front camera, and control of an external camera that is remotely controlled are performed independently, and a dedicated camera application needs to be activated when the external camera is to be used. Accordingly, in some cases, a user cannot smoothly switch between the cameras to be controlled. Moreover, although a built-in camera is scarcely used when using an external camera, the operation of switching between cameras is complicated and inconvenient.